Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-16
A TEXAS EXPOSITION.
What Cincinnati and Chicsgo Did a
Few Years Ago and What They
Are Doing To-Day.
State and City Expeditions success-Tar-
rant County Big Enough TO Get Up
Resp sctable chow.

| FORT WORTH, Ten, Dec. T. 1887
] To the Editor of the Gazette.
| Some years ago the people of Cincin-
natl conceived the idea of grand expo
sition. A large building WAS erected,
and under the roof WAS concentrated an
exhibit OF the greatness of Cincinnati.
The railroads centeriIg in Cincinnati
were asked to bring the people upon their
roads and connecting lines to
this great Cincinnati exposition for
one fare for the round
trip. The request was granted
The exposition lasted during the months
Of September and October. The people
of Cincinnati and the railroads were well
satisfied with the result. Later on Chica-
go wanted an exposition, and Chicago
erected grand exposition building, In
which were exhibited her industries,
her manufacturing, her greatness. Chica-
60 asked her railroads and connecting
] lines to make low price for tickets OF
admission and transportation to her great
show, the railroads answered with 8
cheer: You are ours, We are yours :
We are with you. One fare for q round
trip was the highest price that was
charged. However the ticket price was
not uniform. The writer afterwards had
the pleasure of placing in the
hands Of the then president of the Mis-
souri, Pacific Railroad two sworn state
ments, that one Chicago road placed
an agent in Kansas City, and distributed
in Kansas and Missouri 1000 free passes
| to Chicago and return. st. Louis could
not stand the competition any longer,
but IN 1882 commenced the construction
OF the grandest exposition building in the
United States. Upon it's completion in
1884, it was opened, and has continued
s great success. Il Is kept open
during the months of September
and October. During last season it was
attended by meeting of the Grand Army
OF the Republic, and visit from Presl-
dent Cleveland. In all of these EXPOSE
tions the railroad companies have never
said, first give US the travel and we will
give you low fares. But they have, to the
contrary, said, and repeated, the first i'm
portant lesson learned by the apprentice
in the passenger business,
CHEAP FARES CARRY THE PASSENGERS.
Then came forward California, and her
people said to her railroads, re want to
give q grand exposition of the state of
California and invite the world; our
country is novel in its character, it will
be quite q show to the people from other
states, our vast mountains, our small val
legs made to blossom and bear like
garden by artificial water, our uniform
temperate climate, and the railroads
said. what do you want Us to do? and
California said, want you to sell cheap
tickets OF Abundance to our exposition,
II cents mile, and get your connecting
lines to do the same, and the railroads
SAID, we will do it. Hip, hip, hurrah!
hurrah! we will FL California with peo-
pie and money, and enjoy with her people
in the prosperity.
And now comes the people of Texas,
after all this successful experience of
Cincinnati, Chicago, st. Louis and Cali
fornie in giving expositions, and they say
let Us give "TeXas Exposition" We can
give good show to the people from the
old states. We will erect the walls of
exposition building upon our boundary
line, bright sun, beaming through Texas
sky shall be our light by day, and we will
be Illuminated by the stars OF Texas
sky at night.
We will show our mild winters and the
cooling breeze that follows at night our
midsummer day. We will show our
black-waX land and the different styles of
sandy loans; We will show our forests
and pineries; we will show the largest
yearling old calves and colts in the world
we will show our cotton fields that
have averaged bale to the acre for
the Last ten years. We will
show pecan forests that yie'd $50
to the tree per snnum. We will show;
vast pastures suppl ed with flowing arte-
sian wells, where cattle will remain fat
the year round, with one-fifth Of the feed
required in the old states. We will show.
our iron mines and coal mines that only
require capital for development. We will
show the Rio Grande valley and the Pecos
valley and various other valleys, which
can be bought at few dollyrs an acre.,
irrigated by their streams, and in
short time. be worth hundreds of dollars
per acre. There are no two expositions
alike, and yet they all may be good expo
sitions. There are no two mountains
alike, they are mountains, but their out
lines are different. We will have ali
these things put in a printed pamphlet,
andEeveryl social or business letter that is
printed in the state Of Texas shall con-
tain one. We will not say as the matron
uiu, III tuc Ulu GuSlibu CUupleL.
Ard to her guests she showed her pelf,
This my maids done. This l done myself.
But, we will say, all this nature has
done for Texas, mans work has scarce
yet begun, and now the people of Texas
say to our railroads, "Faint heart never
won fair lady" ITO the brave belongs
the world" Will you help us, and enjoy
with US the influx Of people and
money that will attend our exposi-
ton? Will you help us, as the
railroads OF Cincinnati, Chicago, st.
Louis and Caliiornis, did to each OF them
Will the railroads of Texas help the Texas
exposition. as the railroads of Texas did
the Californis exposition, ibid you say? Is
it business We ask or charity? Be ashamed
of such remark. It is business, and it
will pay well. But if it were charity,
home Is the place for it. We want
very low price excursion ticket, cheap is
the word. Bargains will bring out
buyers. We want the people lin the old
states to feel as we have often heard them
express themselves, that railroad tickets